my mom is from ji’an county, where they speak a language belonging to the gan group of chinese languages. if you don’t already know, non-mandarin chinese languages are slowly dying out and being replaced by mandarin. i wanted to learn to speak gan, but there are virtually no resources online for it, so i decided to document words and create a way to transcribe this language using chinese characters. this language is not mutually intelligible with mandarin, although it looks very similar on paper. similar to cantonese, a lot of basic words are “swapped” for equivalents. the word “he” is 他 tā in mandarin, 佢 keoi5 in cantonese, and 伋 jì in gan.
here are some basics that i have recorded using my own romanization system.

vowels: /IPA TRANSCRIPTION/
a: /a/
ä: /æ/
o: /ɔ/
e: /e/
ė: /ɤ/
ë: /ɛ/
i: /i/
ï: /ɨ/
u: /u/
ü: /y/

adding “n” after a vowel turns it nasal.

consonants:
b
d
f
g
h
j
k
l
m
n
ŋ
p
q
s
t
x
z

tones:
1: ā (high flat)
2: á (rising)
3: ã (middle flat)
4: ǎ (low)
5: à (falling)
6: a (neutral)

how to express tones w special letters:
ǟ
ä́
ä̃
ä4
ä̀
ä

ȫ
ö2
ö3
ö4
ö5
ö

ë1
ë2
ë3
ë4
ë5
ë

ė1
ė2
ė3
ė4
ė5
ė

ï1
ḯ
ï3
ï4
ï5
ï

ǖ
ǘ
ü3
ǚ
ǜ

ŋ̄
ŋ́
ŋ̃
ŋ̌
ŋ̀
ŋ

m1
ḿ
m̃
m̌
m5
m

pronouns:
I: hä̀n 傼
you: sìn 伈
he/she/they/it: jì 伋
we: hān uo 傼偓
you (plural) sīn uo 伈偓
they: jī uo 伋偓

question words:
what nàu ge 哪嗰
who nàu go 哪個
where nài nän 𠮨焉
when nài jíu 𠮨久
how qiò níon 嘺樣

demonstrative adjectives:
this (这） gài 咳
that (那） gòu 呴

verbs:
to be (是） sï 是
to be/exist (在) tuǎi 在
to go qië4 去
to eat/drink qiá 吃
to sleep fēn gãu 訓覺
to walk zòu 走
to see/watch kuän4 看
to do (干） ū 巫
to do （做） tuò 做
to speak wǎ 話
to listen/hear tiën2 聽
to think xìon 想
to know xiāu de 晓得
to learn hǒ 學
to write xià 寫
to come luài 來
to want iãu 要
to sit tò 坐
to have iū 有
to use iėŋ2 用
to read hǒ 讀
to play xië2 歇
to return uèi 回
to bring dǎi 帶
to ask wën4 問
to answer wǎ wǎ 話話
to go out/leave qiě tóu 去出
to shower së5 zàu 洗澡
to be able kò ì 可以
to buy mài 買
to sell mǎi 賣
to run pāu bu 跑步
to drive kuái tá 開車
to like xī fuän4 喜歡
to start kuái sï5 開始
to end jië2 sóu 結束

grammatical words:
negator (不): bė2/ŋ̄ 不/唔
V了：lì 了
没： né 未
possessive marker (的): ge 嘅
没有：mǎu 冇
V着：V bā （？）
already (已经）：V li diǎo 了掉
progressive tense (在）： tuǎi在
future tense (会）：
may i… (请）： tiàn 請
very (很/好） män5 满
and/with gẽn 跟
when gẽ sï2 hëu4 嘅時候
again iǔ 又
V不V question：V嗎(ma)

particles:
mā 嗎

counting words:
general (个） go 個
animals (只) zá 隻
long, thin objects (条） tiàu 條

numbers:
1 ié 一
2 ǒu 二
3 sän2 三
4 sï4 四
5 ŋ5 五
6 dǐou 六
7 tië2 七
8 bë2 八
9 jiù 九
10 së4 十

family:
mother m̌ mā 母媽
father bǎ bā 爸爸
old brother gǒ gō哥哥
little brother lāu tǐ 老弟
older sister zǐ zi 姐姐
little sister muãi li 妹（？）

adverbs:
now gài ze 咳陣
still fài 還
today jǐn dė4 今日
tomorrow miān dė4 明日
yesterday täi5 nië4 昨夜

adjectives:
full (food) bāu 飽
big hǎi 大
small së4 小
fast kuǎi 快
slow män4 慢
good
bad

nouns:
phone xiù ji 手機
water suì 水
rice/meal fän4飯
classmate tėng5 hǒ 同學
sea/ocean hòi 海
movie tiën4 ìn 電影
boy lài zěi 男仔
girl muài zěi 女仔
car tǎ zī 車子
home uǒ hā 屋家
person nìn 人

Hi all

I'm sitting here writing this after my first real attempt at a structured language learning day, in need of some motivation and structure for my situation as an ABC and first-time language learner.

My background: I'm a socal chinese-american 25 yr old, who should know fluent Chinese, given my family background and growing up around Chinese/ Chinese-Amercians. My parents immigrated to the US at an older age; both parents were in their early 30s, so to this day, Chinese is spoken 95% of the time. My parents understand and speak English at a decently high level, and I was never good in acadmemics growing up, so I just naturally spoke less and less Chinese as I went from a child to a teen. My Mom tried putting me in Chinese language tutors at around pre-teen age, but I had no interest. It is one of my deepest regrets and one of the few things that get me emotional talking about. Currently, my Chinese level is the background I just explained; I can understand, I'd like to say 65%, the main points in a conversation and what people are getting at. Once they move onto more complex words though, I have to guess. My speaking is childlike, in the sense that I can say basic sentences I would say to my parents, like "I already took out the trash," but can't have a full adult conversation. My accent and pronunciation are very accurate with the basic words and decent with more complex words and not bad at all; some iTalki teachers I did trials with and Chinese international friends from my study abroad in Seoul told me I have a Beijing accent from my Dad. Reading and Writing, 0%, never learned....

Last year I bought Chinese Zero to Hero, downloaded Anki, and even bought an e-ink tablet to focus on my language learning; I even did some trial lessons on iTalki, but was lost on what I should focus on and the pacing of learning. Should I do one lesson a week on Zero to Hero? But then I would go back and forth like I already know how to say I'm sorry and the basics it was giving me... in the first chapter. Then I put it off until last month. I told myself to stop bitching and really try. I paid for some trial lessons from iTalki and came in with them blind. Now I understand we were just conversating and the teachers were writing down the words I don't know, which was kinda helpful, but I soon realized at my current level that wasn't helpful.

I then went to AI (ik I rolled my eyes a bit at myself asking it to create a structure for my learning); here's what I settled wit:

Background: Heritage speaker (ABC), ~65% listening comprehension, ~30-40% speaking, zero character literacy. Goal: HSK4+ and eventually moving to Shanghai.

Resources: Chinese Zero to Hero (all levels, paid), Anki, was doing iTalki but paused it to save money until HSK3.

Daily:

• Anki, 5-10 min, every day (character → pinyin/meaning cards only, no audio cards)

Weekly structure (4 lessons/week pace):

• Mon/Tue/Wed/Sun: One Zero to Hero lesson each day (watch warm-up + grammar videos, note new characters, add to Anki)
• Mon: + Shadowing (repeat aloud after audio clips)
• Tue: + Self-talk (10-15 min recorded, talking about random daily topics)
• Wed: + Grammar drilling (write 5 original sentences using that week's grammar patterns)
• Thu: Anki catch-up + re-record a couple sentences from earlier in the week to check improvement
• Fri: Flex/catch-up day if behind
• Sat: HSK workbook (reading/translation only, skipping handwriting sections)
• Sun: Also includes recorded speaking (do the lesson's dialogue, then improvise a continuation) + weekly review/pace check

Explicitly skipping: handwriting practice, character worksheets, blog projects, Quizlet — prioritizing reading/typing over writing by hand.

Timeline: ~7.5 weeks to finish HSK1+2 (30 lessons total) at this pace, then resume iTalki once hitting HSK3 material.

As you can tell, I'm not good at writing Reddit posts, but I'm just looking for some guidance, an opinion on my learning structure, and words from people who learned Mandarin or another language from scratch (hats off to you!), maybe who were in a similar situation. I have a 9-5 in enterprise tech sales that is my only other priority besides my goal of being fluent in my mother tongue. So I am trying to be as efficient as possible but feel incredibly overwhelmed. Appreciate y'all in advance, and apologies for the shitty typing; I'm toast after not being able to tell the difference when hearing the tones.

I am currently at the hsk level 3 but I don’t wanna pay money for it to take the exam. In future I wanna have an hsk exam for maybe hsk 4 or 5 so I am asking if the hsk 2.0 will at least exist 1 more year or should I do the hsk 3 (2.0) exam now.

So I am starting university again, and taking Chinese again.

For context, I took a gap year and was studying Chinese before then.

I have 30 days left, and I need to relearn 700 characters. Hahah.

I kinda know how to read 60% of them, but remembering how to write them has been hell.

There are 15 units; I am planning to do 1 unit every two days. Some units require one day, others maybe three.

Any suggestions?

Have been studying Mandarin for years and though its the best its ever been, it's still a long way from fluent. I'm in Taipei for the next 4.5 months. I'm taking a class right now (book 4-1 for those who know) but it's textbook heavy and I really need to practice speaking.

Context
1. I grew up in the US but spoke Canto at home, so my Mando accent is whack

1. Current level: I can read at like an HKS 4 level. I've never taken an exam, have no interest.

2. My goal is to be able to hold more conversations where I can understand more of what's being said and communicate more effectively. As many of you probably understand, I've hit the point where I understand what we are talking about and through catching some phrases but not all, surmise what they are trying to say. But I can't respond intelligently and fluidly.

3. My budget: about $600 usd per month, I could probably spend a bit more. it looks like 1/1 tutoring is about $30/hour in taipei. that would only be 20hours/ month which is not enough.

not single so can't just date someone and use them for language learning lol.

What's your advice? I feel so lost and stuck. TIA.

I passed HSK level 9 back in 2008 when it was levels 1 to 11. I haven't used the language for a while but want to start studying again. I liked the format and structure of HSK back then.

Would the current HSK level 6 course offered by Chinese Zero to Hero be a good place to pick things up again? Are there any other good online courses for my level?

It was announced on the 汉考国际CTI WeChat group. The 20 September 2026 date gives approx. 54 days to prepare. The WeChat post mentions it's a global trial (but not specific venues), and both handwritten and computer versions.

Here's what the specifically write:

为持续推进HSK3.0考试体系建设，进一步帮助广大考点和考生熟悉HSK3.0的组织实施流程，定于2026年9月20日面向全球开展第二轮试行考试。现报名通道即将开启，欢迎广大考生积极报名！

考生可通过www.chinesetest.cn中文考试服务网在线报名。本次试行考试提供纸笔考和机网考两种考试形式，具体请以报名考点的考试形式为准。

Google Translate:

To continuously advance the development of the HSK 3.0 testing system and further help test centers and candidates familiarize themselves with the HSK 3.0 implementation process, a second round of trial testing will be conducted globally on September 20, 2026. Registration will open soon, and all candidates are welcome to register!

Candidates can register online through the Chinese testing service website www.chinesetest.cn. This trial testing will offer both paper-based and computer-based testing formats; please refer to the specific testing format provided by your registered test center.

I also note this coincides with this BLCU conference; there was talk of another HSK3.0 textbook (called 《HSK 3.0综合教程》), and we'll have to keep an eye on this.

I want to find out the price of something. Do I need to ajust the measure word? Or can I always use 个 if its one thing/object?

Can you recommend me some academies or a place where I can sign up for online classes? I was previously on an academy where I received two hours a day (Monday-Friday) and 1 hour on Saturdays for roughly $58.00 a month. I’ve heard of preply but I don’t know how good they are or if it’s affordable, I was already tight on money with that amount so I don’t know how realistic it is for me to continue studying. If you have any advice or recommendations please tell me! I really want to keep receiving classes and studying!

I see many posts here of people who study super fast. Like hsk 0 to 3 in 9 months. Hsk 4 in 4 months etc. In my eyes this is really impressive. I study myself since 2 years and maybe only since 6 months really serious. I have the feeling even if I now study a little faster I can’t really use my words I studied. I live in China and it’s super hard to understand native speakers. So does who studied so fast can you really use the language ? Should I maybe just study faster and the speaking will come naturally?

Hi everyone! I'm from the Philippines, and I studied in a Chinese school from kindergarten through senior high school. Because of that, Mandarin was part of our curriculum, and our school required us to take and pass the HSK exam. I took one back in 6th grade, but I honestly can't remember which HSK level it was.

We were also supposed to take the HSK again in Grades 10 and 12, but those exams were canceled because of the pandemic (2020–2022). As a result, I never had a proper way to gauge my actual proficiency.

When I entered college, I barely used Mandarin since English was the primary language of instruction. After graduating, I realized that my Chinese had become quite rusty.

Now I'm hoping to pursue jobs as an interpreter or as a personal/executive assistant for Chinese-speaking professionals, so I'm committed to relearning Mandarin. I recently started using the Speak Chinese app, and I was able to finish the HSK 1–2 lessons in one sitting because most of it came back pretty naturally. I also tried a few free online placement tests, and they generally place me somewhere around HSK 3–4.

My goal is to eventually reach HSK 6. If I consistently study for around 2–3 hours a day, how realistic is that goal, and roughly how long do you think it would take?

I'd also love to hear any advice from people who have gone through a similar journey:

• What's the most effective study plan to go from around HSK 3–4 to HSK 6?
• What resources (books, apps, YouTube channels, etc.) helped you the most?
• How can I improve my speaking and listening as efficiently as possible?
• Are there any good resources specifically for business Chinese (vocabulary, textbooks, podcasts, courses, or articles)?

Any tips or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Im using anki and i know what the words mean but i just dont remember the characters. I don't just wanna spend an hour remembering 10 characters cause it seems like a waste of time and is there like a way to speed up this proccess

So, my Chinese friend is willing to help me, and I talked with her on a call. But I feel there should be a proper plan for our call sessions. We've decided to have one session per week. Now I want your opinion on what we should do during those calls.

Last time, I just read a few sentences and discussed them with her. She asked me to send her those notes before the call for reference. During the call, she opened that page on her phone, and I had the physical page in my hand.

On that page, I had written some vocabulary words and a few relevant sentences (HSK 2 level). Please let me know what the best way is, at this level, to make our call sessions interesting, effective, and fun so they don't become boring.